SFDK was always like that. But, SF is cutting back hours at some other parks. I don't know if many noticed but SFGAm regular close during the heart of the season July & thru 2nd week of August is now 9pm Su-Th and not 10pm. It's 10pm Sa/Su. Other parks in SF chain are doing similar things. This is likely to manage some labor costs over the full year with the expanded season w/ Holiday in the park. Save 1 hr for like 45 days during the main season, pays for like 8 or 10 days of HITP regarding labor costs

_FuryBull_330_ wrote:^ This annoys me so much how Six Flags is so cheap to not even put one more hour to a regular day in the summer. I miss those old 10 p.m days.

All parks in all chains are trying to manage labor costs. Parks are having to pay to attract & keep employees in all states b/c of the labor market the last few years. Also, some parks are being forced to paymore by state minimum wage law increases. It's not just SF or SFGAm cutting hours. Cedar Point is reducing their summer nights when they used to be open till midnight all July. Now they are just doing midnight on weekends and making weekdays 10pm.

It looks like Illinois will soon join California and New York as a $15 an hour minimum wage State. I personally don't have any opiniion on the higher minimum wage, if it's a good or bad thing. But John Duffy did mention in a 2017 confrence call, that Six Flags plans to absorb the higher wages instead of passing the costs onto guests.

So these reduced hours do make sense, especially in States where the minimum wage is going up,

JackGlass wrote:It looks like Illinois will soon join California and New York as a $15 an hour minimum wage State. I personally don't have any opiniion on the higher minimum wage, if it's a good or bad thing. But John Duffy did mention in a 2017 confrence call, that Six Flags plans to absorb the higher wages instead of passing the costs onto guests.

So these reduced hours do make sense, especially in States where the minimum wage is going up,

Duffy is gone so what he said might not hold. Also, since then their projections on 750M Modified EBIDTA goal are not going to be met barring a miracle. Q4 and full year conf call thursday 2/14

_FuryBull_330_ wrote:^ This annoys me so much how Six Flags is so cheap to not even put one more hour to a regular day in the summer. I miss those old 10 p.m days.

My biggest complaint is how late the openings are. 10:30 openings create such a morning log jam at every pinch point: parking, security, & turnstiles.I really wish they would change up how they manage the crowds in the morning(let people in sooner even if they aren't open yet) or open earlier like they used to. The later openings and waiting to open the turnstiles are a double negative before you ever get into the park.

Magic Kingdom changed things up a few years back, moving the opening show from the train station to the castle. This allowed Main Street to be open earlier for morning snacks, and relieve crowd congestion back at the turnstiles. Oh yeah, that's also all prior to the 9am (90 min earlier than sfgam) opening.

JackGlass wrote:It looks like Illinois will soon join California and New York as a $15 an hour minimum wage State. I personally don't have any opiniion on the higher minimum wage, if it's a good or bad thing. But John Duffy did mention in a 2017 confrence call, that Six Flags plans to absorb the higher wages instead of passing the costs onto guests.

So these reduced hours do make sense, especially in States where the minimum wage is going up,

Cedar Fair just had their Q4/Full Year conf call. They sited the 30M increase in operating costs, "largely attributable to increased labor costs due to increases in market and minimum wages..."

It will be interesting to see if SF has a similar take on their call thursday.

This is for Six Flags Over Texas, but it is important for Great America, possibly:

One word: "PICTURES" are back at Over Texas!

"Free Wi-Fi will be available throughout the entire park in 2019. This will help to assist with online food ordering through the Six Flags app. The turnstiles at the front gates will also be removed and replaced with tablets. To gain entry into the park you will scan your season pass/membership/tickets on the tablet, and your picture will be available to help reduce illegal entry. Photos will also be attached to your dining pass, so that way when you order food your picture will come up ensuring it is YOUR pass."

"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"

yes, please get rid of the finger scanner they are such a slow prosses and not efficent. I would love for them to go back to the photo system. It is always so much faster when they use the handscanners and not the finger print.

This has nothing to do with this but does any one have pictures of the old Spinnaker ride? I am working on a youtube video with SFGAm's history. Great America Parks didn't have a picture of it and google images arent the best with finding old ride pictures for a youtube video.

ledgeland wrote:Whatever happened to repainting the flumes? Last year there were some supports on one of them with a new green and I figured that meant a full repaint. Could see from Logger’s Run line.

The new green color was on the newly installed sections of water delivery pipes to the top of the lift. Clipper had some replaced, and Loggers got a new lift belt late last season. The park experimented with the color on a few of Clippers supports but it was mostly to cover up the spots where the paint has eroded.

Been to may theme parks, in many countries. However, SFGAm is my home park and I love it!

Thanks! The flumes would look great again if they painted both of them that new green all over. My family is a big fan of the flumes and really would like if they were fully refreshed: repainted, get both sides of the drop working again, replace and add more logs/boats. If there is some valid reason both sides of the drop can't operate like they used to maybe they could just remove the sides that aren't used. It would look better.

That's bizarre the 5K race has different start and end points. I'm curious as to how they'll coordinate this. Are they going to have people park at Gurnee Mills and shuttle them to the start line at the park?